1. The Attorney General of the United States brings this
action on behalf of the United States of America, pursuant to the
Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980 ("CRIPA"),
42 U.S.C. § 1997, to enjoin the named Defendants from depriving
persons with mental retardation and other developmental
disabilities who live in residential facilities owned and/or
operated by the Commonwealth, or in residential facilities
providing care, services and treatment to such persons on behalf
of the Commonwealth, of rights, privileges or immunities secured
or protected by the Constitution of the United States and federal
statutes.

JURISDICTION, STANDING AND VENUE

2. This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1345.

3. The United States is authorized to maintain this action
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997a.

4. The Attorney General has certified that all pre-filing
requirements specified in 42 U.S.C. § 1997b have been met. The
Certificate of the Attorney General is appended to this Complaint
and is incorporated herein.

5. Venue is proper in the United States District Court for
the District of Puerto Rico pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b) and
(c). All claims set forth in the Complaint arose in said
District.

PARTIES

6. Plaintiff is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

7. Defendant COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO ("Commonwealth")
currently owns and operates four residential facilities for
persons with mental retardation and other developmental
disabilities: Centro Reeducacion Adultos Minusvalidos in
Bayamon, Puerto Rico ("Bayamon"), Facilidad de Cuidado Intermedio
in Cayey, Puerto Rico ("Cayey"), Centro Rosario Bellber in
Aibonito, Puerto Rico ("Aibonito"), and Centro Servicios
Multiples Camaseyes in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico ("Aguadilla"). The
Commonwealth also operates Centro de Servicios Integrales para
Adultos con Retardacion Mental ("CSIARM") located at the MEPSI
Medical Center in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth had
transferred all residents and staff to CSIARM from Centro
Servicios Integrales in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico ("Rio Piedras"),
a mental retardation facility that is now closed but that had
been owned and operated by the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth
also provides care, services and treatment, through a contractual
arrangement, to individuals now residing in the Mayaguez Regional
Hospital Health Care Center in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico ("Mayaguez
Hospital"), who formerly resided at Centro Cuidado Gentil Las
Mesas in Mayaguez ("Mayaguez"), a mental retardation facility
that is now closed but that had been owned and operated by the
Commonwealth. The facilities in Bayamon, Cayey, Aibonito,
Aguadilla, CSIARM and Mayaguez Hospital house individuals
(hereinafter "residents") with developmental disabilities and
other special needs including mental illness.

8. Defendant PEDRO J. ROSSELLO is the Governor of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and in this capacity heads the
Executive Branch of the Commonwealth's government and, among
other duties, reviews and approves budget requests submitted by
Executive Branch agencies. He selects and appoints the Secretary
of the Commonwealth's Department of Health, and the Director of
the Commonwealth's Mental Retardation Program.

9. Defendant DR. CARMEN FELICIANO VDA. DE MELECIO is the
Secretary of the Commonwealth's Department of Health and, in this
capacity, exercises administrative control of, and responsibility
for residential facilities for persons with mental retardation
and other developmental disabilities which are owned and/or
operated by the Commonwealth, and has responsibility for the
care, services and treatment provided to such persons in other
residential facilities operated on behalf of the Commonwealth.

10. Defendant JOSE DE LEON is the Director of the
Commonwealth's Mental Retardation Program which is the part of
the Department of Health that provides care, services and
treatment to individuals with developmental disabilities in the
above-referenced facilities.

11. The individual Defendants named in ¶¶ 8, 9 and 10 above
are officers of the Executive Branch of the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico and are sued only in their official capacities.

12. The residential facilities for persons with mental
retardation and other developmental disabilities owned and/or
operated by the Commonwealth or operated on behalf of the
Commonwealth are institutions as that term is defined in 42 U.S.C. §§ 1997(1)(A), (1)(B)(i) and (1)(B)(v).

13. Defendants are legally responsible, in whole or in
part, for the operation of and conditions at residential
facilities for persons with mental retardation and other
developmental disabilities owned and/or operated by the
Commonwealth or in residential facilities providing care,
services and treatment to such persons on behalf of the
Commonwealth.

14. At all relevant times, Defendants have acted or failed
to act, as alleged herein, under color of state law.

FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

15. Defendants have failed to provide adequate housing and
shelter with adequate roofing, plumbing, bathroom facilities, and
lighting to meet the needs of residents.

16. Defendants have failed to ensure the reasonable safety
of residents. Defendants have failed to supervise, monitor and
protect residents from harm and risk of harm in an adequate
manner.

18. Defendants have failed to provide adequate basic care
and related hygiene services to residents. Defendants have
failed to provide residents with sufficient quantities of needed
food, medications, medical supplies, and other supplies to meet
their needs.

19. Defendants have failed to provide residents with
adequate, appropriate and meaningful activities.

20. Defendants have failed to provide residents with
adequate psychology and related services, including behavioral
and training programs.

21. Defendants have failed to provide residents with that
level of training necessary to protect residents' liberty

interests, including their right to training sufficient to ensure
their safety and freedom from undue restraint.

22. Defendants have failed to ensure that residents are
free from undue or unreasonable restraint and that restraints are
administered by appropriately qualified professionals in keeping
with accepted professional standards, and are not used as
punishment, in lieu of treatment, or for the convenience of
staff. Defendants have failed to supervise adequately residents
in restraints to protect them from harm.

24. Defendants have failed to provide adequate medical and
health care and related services, including neurological care, to
residents and to ensure that medications are prescribed and
administered to residents by appropriately qualified
professionals in keeping with accepted professional standards,
and are not used as punishment, in lieu of treatment, or for the
convenience of staff.

25. Defendants have failed to provide adequate nursing care
and services to residents.

26. Defendants have failed to provide adequate physical
management and related services and therapy services, including
physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other
forms of therapy to residents.

27. Defendants have failed to provide residents with
adequate and sufficient adaptive and habilitative equipment,
including wheelchairs, that meet the needs of residents.

28. Defendants have failed to provide a sufficient number
of adequately trained professional and direct care staff to
render the essential care and treatment outlined above in
paragraphs 15 through 27.

29. Defendants have failed to maintain professionally based
recordkeeping and record review systems to ensure that resident
records contain accurate, up-to-date and relevant information
necessary to enable staff to provide adequate care, treatment,
and training to residents.

30. Defendants have failed to ensure that residents are
evaluated by appropriate professionals for placement in the most
integrated setting and appropriately placed into the most
integrated setting according to their individualized needs.

31. Defendants have failed to meet the requirements of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 etseq., and the regulations promulgated pursuant
thereto, by excluding residents, by reason of their disability,
from participation in or by denying them the benefits of the
services, programs, or activities of the Commonwealth, or by
subjecting them to discrimination, and by failing to administer
services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting
appropriate to their needs. For purposes of Title II of the ADA,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Department of
Health are "public entities," and the residents of the facilities
are "qualified individual[s] with a disability" pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101, 12131.

32. Defendants have failed to meet the requirements of
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Section 504"),

29 U.S.C. § 794, and the regulations promulgated pursuant
thereto, by, solely on the basis or severity of their disability,
segregating residents, excluding them from participating in,
denying them the benefits of, or subjecting them to
discrimination in programs or activities which receive federal
financial assistance. For purposes of Section 504, the
Defendants receive "Federal financial assistance," the residents
are "qualified individual[s] with a disability," and are the
intended beneficiaries of the assistance.

VIOLATIONS ALLEGED

33. The acts and omissions alleged in paragraphs 15 through
32 infringe upon residents' legal rights and substantive liberty
interests and constitute resistance to the full enjoyment of
their rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by
the Constitution or laws of the United States, and deprive
residents of such rights, privileges or immunities.

34. Unless restrained by this Court, Defendants will
continue to engage in the conduct and practices set forth in
paragraphs 15 through 32 that deprive residents of the facilities
of their legal rights under law and the rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution of the United States, and cause irreparable harm to residents.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

35. The Attorney General is authorized under 42 U.S.C. § 1997a to seek only equitable relief.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff, the United States of America, prays
that this Court enter an order permanently enjoining Defendants,
their agents, employees, subordinates, successors in office, and
all those acting in concert or participation with them from
continuing the acts, practices and omissions at the facilities
set forth in paragraphs 15 through 32 above, and to require
Defendants to take such action as will bring Defendants into
compliance with federal law and provide legal and constitutional
conditions of care to persons who reside at the facilities. The
United States further prays that this Court grant such other and
further equitable relief as it may deem just and proper.

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Respectfully submitted,

___________________________JANET RENO
Attorney General of the United States